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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bastard type

Bastard \Bas"tard\, a.

  1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate. See Bastard, n., note.

  2. Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; -- applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not so.

    That bastard self-love which is so vicious in itself, and productive of so many vices.
    --Barrow.

  3. Of an unusual or irregular make or proportion; as, a bastard musket; a bastard culverin. [Obs.]

  4. (Print.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.

    Bastard ashlar (Arch.), stones for ashlar work, roughly squared at the quarry.

    Bastard file, a file intermediate between the coarsest and the second cut.

    Bastard type (Print.), type having the face of a larger or a smaller size than the body; e. g., a nonpareil face on a brevier body.

    Bastard wing (Zo["o]l.), three to five quill feathers on a small joint corresponding to the thumb in some mammalia; the alula.

Wiktionary
bastard type

n. (context printing historical English) type having the face of a larger or smaller size than the body.